Future Injection
by Mark Lopa
Summary: Captain Archer just wanted to go to his quarters. He didn't expect the detour he was going to take.


**Future Injection**

By Mark Lopa

_Enterprise, NX-01  
Turbolift A_

As the turbo lift slowed, Archer tugged at the elastic waist of us uniform. Although comfortable, Archer would prefer a two-piece garment, and sometimes treated his jumpsuit as such. When motion stopped, he stepped past the sliding door on his way to his quarters. However, the corridor was not what he expected. It was more bright and spacious. People were walking around in strange uniforms. After a moment of confusion, a rage developed that spread like wildfire throughout his body.

"Daniels!" he said with as much anger he could muster in a low voice. Startled, he heard a voice behind him.

"I apologize, Captain, but this is necessary."

It _was_ Daniels. Archer spun on the heels of his shoes and towered down into the eyes of the man he wanted to extinguish for all time, once and for all.

"What's the meaning of this?! I though we were done with each other!"

Before Archer could stop, he looked around and tried to calm himself. People turned and looked at him. He shot back at Daniels, and noticed the time traveler was wearing a uniform like the others. Archer looked down at himself, and was surprised to see his jumpsuit was replaced with the same uniform Daniels and the rest were wearing.

"This way please, Captain," Daniels said calmly …extending an arm towards the end of the corridor. He began to walk and Archer matched his steps.

In a more civil voice, Archer said, "I thought you were going to leave me alone. Don't tell me this has something to do with your damned temporal cold war." Although the volume of Archer's words was much lower—almost to whisper, especially considering the nature of the comment—the anger was only greater.

"No, no…you helped end that last year," Daniels said as they kept walking. "This is something completely different. The odds that only you could help me with this problem again are beyond astronomical, but they are what they are."

Archer shook his head in disgust and continued to walk. "Where are we going?"

Daniels pointed to a door. "In there," he said, and the door opened with a very soft hiss. They walked into what to Archer looked like an admiral's room at Starfleet, and the door hissed behind him. Archer was going to comment on the size of the room, but was too angry to hold interest.

"Alright, spit it out, Daniels," Archer yelled. "Why have you taken me this time?"

Daniels turned to face Archer. He closed his eyes and motioned both his hands towards Archer's feet. "Please…please, Captain. Please hear me out. I wouldn't do this if it were not of the utmost importance."

Archer turned around and looked up at the ceiling in disgust. "Of course…the utmost importance. Why _else_ would you kidnap me?"

"I understand how you feel, Captain, but the sooner we do what must be done, the quicker I can get you back to _Enterprise._"

Archer turned back to Daniels. "Like that's ever easy."

Archer put his hands on his hips and looked down again at the uniform he was wearing.

"What's with these awfully uncomfortable uniforms, anyway? What century are we in that we're so far removed from our jumpsuits," Archer asked, rubbing his hands down his sides. Then he looked up at Daniels. "This _is_ Starfleet, I assume?"

"Yes. This is a standard Starfleet uniform."

Archer continued to examine his uniform. "What's with all these pins?"

Daniels pointed to a row of different shaped pins near the cuff of his left arm. "Those are service pins. They indicate you have been in Starfleet for…11…12…13 years."

"Oh yeah?" Archer asked, unimpressed.

"And that pin," Daniels said pointing to a pin a little higher up on his sleeve, "indicates you are a lieutenant. It's identical to the pin on your shoulder strap."

Archer rubbed his left hand on the pin just below his right shoulder.

"Great…a demotion," Archer said. "Now what the hell am I _doing_ here?"

"OK…we're in the year 2286. We're in the latter half of the 23rd Century."

"Uh huh," Archer said. "And what ship are we on?" Archer asked as he watched the stars warp by the window of the stateroom.

"The _U.S.S. Enterprise_, of course. This is the third ship to bare the name."

"The third _U.S.S. Enterprise?" _Archer asked.

"Well, the second _U.S.S. Enterprise_ to be precise. Your ship is just _Enterprise_," Daniels explained.

"I'm aware of that," Archer snapped back.

"Of course you are. Don't forget you have already been on the 12th _Enterprise_," Daniels said, almost bragging.

"I very much would _like_ to forget," Archer said.

"Sorry. Anyway, someone on this ship needs your help. We need to…draw blood from you."

Archer put his hand on his hips, and bent slightly towards Daniels. "Excuse me?"

"There is someone on board who is going to become very sick and die. This person needs a semi-DNA transplant, and we can only get that from your blood."

"What the hell is a semi-DNA transplant," Archer demanded.

"It's…something that won't be developed for quite some time, even from where we are now," Daniels said. "However, my superiors agree the important of the survival of this individual is too great to allow death. This is the only way to ensure survive."

Archer shook his head. "Who is it?"

Daniels pressed his lips together before speaking. "I'm sorry, Captain, but all I can tell you is the person is a decedent of yours."

Archer laughed, annoyed. "Of course…because if you _tell_ me who this person is, it could _ruin_ the time line," he said as his impatience rose with his words.

"I'm sorry. But trust me, it needs to be this way."

"Of course it does," Archer said. "So what…this person died in the original timeline, and you figure if that doesn't happen, the greater good will benefit?"

Daniels nodded. "I'm impressed."

"Yeah, well…I'm picking up on a few things with all the time we're sharing… too _much_ time for my pleasure. Have you thought about the things that might _not_ happen which occurred in the original timeline?"

"Of course. This has been studied for years and every possible outcome has been scrutinized. This is the best course of action."

"I see. So once again, I'm part of a very central focal point in the history of the universe?"

"Well…maybe not the entire universe; this sector of the solar system, most definitely."

Archer sighed. He walked over and sat down on one of the couches. Daniels walked over but remained standing. Then Archer thought of something and rose back on his feet.

"Wait a second. Why couldn't you have just taken my blood in my own time and brought it here without having to drag me along?"

Daniels nodded. "I was waiting for that question. We have found out that the quantum makeup of DNA is unstable when traveling through time within a sample of blood. The humanoid body protects the DNA from such contamination. There are still a lot of questions about DNA even in the 30th Century."

"There is no other way to transport it?"

"Not that we have discovered yet. This is the most safe," Daniels said.

"Alright…whatever…let's just get this done. What do you need for me to do?"

"Ok…you are scheduled to have a blood test performed in sickbay. The doctor is waiting for you right now."

"The doctor?"

"Well no, not 'The Doctor' as in an EM…er…I mean…well yes…the chief medical officer of the _Enterprise_.

"A name would be helpful."

"Of course," Daniels said. "His name is Doctor Leonard McCoy. He's an older fellow…you'll know him when you see him.

"And?"

"And…what?" Daniels asked.

"Well, I assume I'm not Captain Jonathan Archer on this ship."

Daniels laughed. "Oh, no…no of course not. You'll be known as Lieutenant Jackson Coto."

"I suppose it could be worse. When am I due?"

"In five minutes. If you go out the doors and take a left…"

"I'll find sickbay, Daniels. It can't be that difficult. What should I do when I'm done?"

"Once you walk out of sickbay, I'll take care of the rest.

Archer hesitated. "Why does that not make me feel comfortable?"

Daniels chuckled. "It will be fine, Captain."

Archer shook his head and left the quarters followed by a pair of soft hisses.

_U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701-A  
Sickbay_

The doors hissed open, and Archer slowly walked in. Dr. McCoy was alone, and turned around to see who had entered.

"Lieutenant Coto?"

"Yes, sir," Archer said.

"Right on time!" McCoy exclaimed. "I like that! I'm all set for you over here. This won't take a minute." McCoy motioned his arm towards a seat against the far wall, and both he and Archer walked in that direction.

Archer sat down, and McCoy put on gloves and brought together a couple pieces of medical equipment. Archer began with the struggle of sliding the sleeves of the uniform jacket and the undershirt. McCoy looked at him strangely.

"What are you doing?"

Archer stopped. He was obviously doing something wrong.

"Oh, ah…nothing," Archer said. "Just an itch."

"Oh, right," McCoy said turned back to his work. Apparently, drawling blood didn't require Archer pulling up his sleeve.

Suddenly, McCoy put an object up against Archer's uniform it his upper arm, and there was a strange hissing noise. Archer turned to see the object fill up with his blood, and McCoy took it away.

Archer watched as McCoy put the object down and gathered others on a tray. He then looked at Archer.

"Something wrong, Lieutenant?" McCoy asked.

"Oh, no…no…not at all, Doctor."

McCoy laughed. "Usually people can't wait to get out of here and get up to leave without a sound."

"Oh, we're done?"

McCoy looked at Archer strangely. "Of course. Are you alright, Lieutenant? Is something on your mind?"

Archer struggled not to laugh. _If you only knew!_ Archer thought.

"No, Doctor, I'm fine, thank you."

McCoy smiled. "Ok. Well if you ever need to talk about something, I'm always here. Have a good day, Lieutenant.

Archer smiled back, nodded, and exited Sickbay…wondering where he was going to end up.

Surprisingly, Archer walked right into his own quarters on _Enterprise_. Standing in the room was Daniels. Archer was wearing his familiar and much more comfortable jumpsuit. Daniels was back in his black attire.

"Thank you, Captain. Everything worked out as planned."

"Fine, that's fine," Archer said. "Now if you don't mind, I have things to do."

Daniels smiled. "Of course. Godspeed, Captain." Suddenly, Daniels was gone.

Archer sat down and shook his head. Porthos jumped on Archer's lap to remind his owner it was time for dinner. Archer smiled and let his beagle down so he could get the dog food. He much rather enjoyed dealing with more important things like feeding Porthos than hopping through time.

_U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701-A  
Sickbay_

Daniels walked into sickbay, wearing a uniform suited for a medical assistant.

"Hello, Dr. McCoy," Daniels said. "Was that Lieutenant Coto I saw leaving?"

"Yes, yes it was. Would you mind taking this to the lab? They're expecting it."

McCoy handed Daniels the hypo with Archer's blood in it. _Someone is expecting it, but nobody in the lab_, Daniels thought.

"Of course, Doctor," Daniels said as he made his way out of sickbay.

McCoy chuckled. "I should have kept Coto in here as long as I could. Nobody seems to like hanging out in sickbay."

Daniels concentrated on the pace of his walk. In order for this to work, the timing must be precise. He didn't even want to think what it would take to repeat the mission if this first attempt failed. He positioned the hypo against his side, and as he rounded the corner, bumped into the person just as practiced and planned. Without sensing a thing, Daniels injected Archer's blood right through the side of the uniform.

"Oh, my! I'm terribly sorry," Daniels said as he righted the two of them. "I should pay more attention to what I'm doing."

"No harm done, Lieutenant."

"Oh, I'm glad…thank you, sir," Daniels said, trying to act embarrassed. "Are you sure you're OK?"

"Yes, I am, thank you."

"You must be on your way to the Senior Staff briefing, I assume?"

"Yes…as soon as I can get Dr. McCoy to come with me."

"Good luck with that," Daniels said. "Well, good day, then," Daniels said.

"The same, Lieutenant."

Success! Daniels turned and continued walking, and without hesitation exited the 23rd Century, smiling.


End file.
